Kaizen

The word Kaizen was one Neil Anuskiewicz used in his article about Google AdWords, and a word I find very fitting for working with online strategies as well as AdWords. Kaizen is Japanese for “continuous and incremental improvement”, which is exactly what a strategy is, no matter if it’s an online strategy or a general corporate strategy. Following a strategy will never lead you to a certain state or position, even if you get that marked share you’ve set out to get, it doesn’t mean you’ve reached the end of the road. You can always improve more, and just because you’ve successfully fulfilled your strategy, you’re not done - you just reassess your strategy to help you further along towards your vision. And even if you at some point become what you’ve envisioned, the marked and the world has most likely changed, and you might not be where you wanted to be and therefore need to define a new vision.

Following a Strategy is Kaizen

My point is that if you define an online strategy, you should use it to make continuous and incremental improvements on you store or website. You need to make sure you always supply what your customers want, and that your online strategy is always in tune with your other strategies and visions. If your online strategy includes marketing campaigns like AdWords, it means that you should continuously ensure that your AdWords are giving you the result you want, and not just in the initial period. It should be tracked all the time, though more intensely in the beginning.

Practice Kaizen

In my view, you should ‘practice’ kaizen in all areas of your business, because if you stand still in the current market you’ll be run over. You should continuously improve in all areas of your business to make sure your company is running as smoothly as possible. From your data storage procedure to the way your sales people behave towards your clients, there is always room for improvement. Just keep an eye on what the cost of improvement is - just because you can improve in an area doesn’t mean it’s viable for your company.